Theoretical Models
The virial equation is especially useful to describe the causes of non-ideality at a molecular level (very few gases are mono-atomic) as it is derived directly from statistical mechanics:
Where the coefficients in the numerator are known as virial coefficients and are functions of temperature.
The virial coefficients account for interactions between successively larger groups of molecules. For example, accounts for interactions between pairs, for interactions between three gas molecules, and so on. Because interactions between large numbers of molecules are rare, the virial equation is usually truncated after the third term.
The Real gas article features more theoretical methods to compute compressibility factors
Read more about this topic: Compressibility Factor
Famous quotes containing the words theoretical and/or models:
“The hypothesis I wish to advance is that ... the language of morality is in ... grave disorder.... What we possess, if this is true, are the fragments of a conceptual scheme, parts of which now lack those contexts from which their significance derived. We possess indeed simulacra of morality, we continue to use many of the key expressions. But we have—very largely if not entirely—lost our comprehension, both theoretical and practical, of morality.”
—Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (b. 1929)
“Friends broaden our horizons. They serve as new models with whom we can identify. They allow us to be ourselves—and accept us that way. They enhance our self-esteem because they think we’re okay, because we matter to them. And because they matter to us—for various reasons, at various levels of intensity—they enrich the quality of our emotional life.”
—Judith Viorst (20th century)